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then we can work in earnest together to reduce the deficit in a balanced way that will make sure we don't first throw the middle class under the bus. that whatever we put forward have spending cuts and revenue that is going to take care of the middle class and make sure that we have spending cuts and revenue that ensures that they're fair and that the math works. there has been no evidence thus far that the republicans are interested in doing that. >> this has been the perfect opportunity for them to step forward and show some leadership. the majority of americans do want this right now. congresswoman, the president has asked you to stay on as d next c chair. what is the way forward for the democrats? what's happening here? >> well, we need to continue to focus on rebuilding our economy from the middle class out. president obama talked eloquently and passionately during the campaign about making sure that we can get a handle on this deficit, that we can rebuild our economy from the middle class out, that we can focus on creating jobs and getting the economy turned around, and that's what
then we can work in earnest together to reduce the deficit in a balanced way that will make sure we don't first throw the middle class under the bus. that whatever we put forward have spending cuts and revenue that is going to take care of the middle class and make sure that we have spending cuts and revenue that ensures that they're fair and that the math works. there has been no evidence thus far that the republicans are interested in doing that. >> this has been the perfect opportunity...
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social security didn't contribute to the deficits and debt. i don't think there will be any appetite whatsoever for touching social security. but those points i think democrats are quite unified on. the area where i think there is room for negotiation and compromise is, the rates are going to go up. i think we all recognize that. will the rates go up completely? are there other ways where they can come up somewhat short of that but make up the revenues by reducing deductions from higher income families? >> so the deal that we're talking about is halfway between the current rate and the former rate? >> well, i wouldn't say halfway. but i would say, as long as you can get to the revenues, if you can increase the rates and reduce the deductions for upper income households, you can get to the same dollar number and i think there's a willingness to entertain that. it does tend to complicate the tax code. the simplest way is simply to raise the tax rates up to the clinton levels and, you know, we do have a strong interest in simplifying the tax code
social security didn't contribute to the deficits and debt. i don't think there will be any appetite whatsoever for touching social security. but those points i think democrats are quite unified on. the area where i think there is room for negotiation and compromise is, the rates are going to go up. i think we all recognize that. will the rates go up completely? are there other ways where they can come up somewhat short of that but make up the revenues by reducing deductions from higher income...
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we cannot raise taxes enough to take care of $1 trillion worth of deficit spending every single year. so let's get off of this and get on to the other side and start talking about what we have to do to cut our spending, to reform those entitlement programs that are the debt drivers and then do pro-growth tax reform that will stimulate the economy, get the money coming in. it's the best way to get money coming in and that gives everybody a job and helps to take care of the fiscal problem and balanced is what we need. >> congresswoman diane black, thank you for joining me this morning. i appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> i want to bring in our political power panel. political reporter, karen tumult, karen finney and robert trainam. karen, since i know you the best, i'm going to call you k-fin as not to confuse everyone. it seems the taxes are going to go up on the wealthy. the question is whether or not it's through the tax increases or closing the loopholes and the deductions. so do you think that we are closer to a deal today than yesterday if. >> i do. in that now they're puttin
we cannot raise taxes enough to take care of $1 trillion worth of deficit spending every single year. so let's get off of this and get on to the other side and start talking about what we have to do to cut our spending, to reform those entitlement programs that are the debt drivers and then do pro-growth tax reform that will stimulate the economy, get the money coming in. it's the best way to get money coming in and that gives everybody a job and helps to take care of the fiscal problem and...
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members of congress got together and gorged themselves at the table of deficit spending ordering up porterhouse sized tax cuts for their riff friends and a heaping helping of extended unemployment benefits for their out of work neighbors, something i support, by the way. now the bill comes due, and when it's time to whip out the national credit card, you whisper your sweet notion into the tea party's here and the gop threatens to dash as a matter of principle. who wants to put $16 trillion on the national credit card? who is pro-debt? no one. gop extremists get to pretend they're the adults in the room railing about spending that has already happened that they agreed to, and the best part you naughty, naughty, debt ceiling you, you offer them up a chance to get more goodies in the form of more tax cuts or the righteous thrill of cutting medicaid assistance from those obama-loving takers. for nearly 100 years now you were just this boring, nondescript wallflower, never drawing attention to yourself. when congress through spending and tax cuts came up against your limits, you were wordlessly elev
members of congress got together and gorged themselves at the table of deficit spending ordering up porterhouse sized tax cuts for their riff friends and a heaping helping of extended unemployment benefits for their out of work neighbors, something i support, by the way. now the bill comes due, and when it's time to whip out the national credit card, you whisper your sweet notion into the tea party's here and the gop threatens to dash as a matter of principle. who wants to put $16 trillion on...
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obama has this fetish of we've got to raise the rates on the top two because we're going to raise the deficit. >> who knew a balanced approach could be characterized as an obsession that evokes an erotic response. what this is about is the president drawing attention to a dirty little secret, their own fetish that republicans just don't like to hear ventilated in public. according to the congressional budget office in the years since 1979 as federal taxation has become less progressive, the income of the top 1% has grown by over
obama has this fetish of we've got to raise the rates on the top two because we're going to raise the deficit. >> who knew a balanced approach could be characterized as an obsession that evokes an erotic response. what this is about is the president drawing attention to a dirty little secret, their own fetish that republicans just don't like to hear ventilated in public. according to the congressional budget office in the years since 1979 as federal taxation has become less progressive,...
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Nov 29, 2012
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raging deficits, not enough revenues and we needed to cut some spending, too. we needed to make sure that people got their unemployment benefits. tip o'neill realized that he was speaker of the house. not speaker of the democrats. and he had that magic. the magic to him was 218 votes. and that's what i wish john boehner would do. because if he took a page out of tip o'neill's book, we'll be off this fiscal cliff and i compliment congressman cole for his courage in saying, you know, the president's given us 98%, essentially, of what we want. let's take it and we'll argue over the millionaires and the billionaires later. >> you know, you're probably one of the really key leading progressives in the united states senate. i've watched your heroic campaigns every six years. i'm walls in always in wonder of your ability to stick to principles and win big in the biggest state. how is this going over, the view you're taking now, which we're all in this together to some extent? it has to be a 60/40, something like that, deal. how is that going over with your colleagues
raging deficits, not enough revenues and we needed to cut some spending, too. we needed to make sure that people got their unemployment benefits. tip o'neill realized that he was speaker of the house. not speaker of the democrats. and he had that magic. the magic to him was 218 votes. and that's what i wish john boehner would do. because if he took a page out of tip o'neill's book, we'll be off this fiscal cliff and i compliment congressman cole for his courage in saying, you know, the...
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the president who exploded our deficit. he insisted the solution to our problems were more tax cuts. president clinton handed him a $236 billion surplus. a surplus. and left office with a $1.2 trillion deficit. but he just had to keep those tax cuts coming, but something remarkable may be happening in our politics. we're on the verge of something big. after decades of silliness, this lock-step republican fantasy that has hurt our country, president obama is close to breaking the gop tax unity. >> unfortunately, the speaker's proposal right now is still out of balance. you know, he talks, for example, about $800 billion worth of revenues but he says he's going to do that by lowering rates. and when you look at the math, it doesn't work. if we're going to protect middle class families, then we're going to have to have higher rates for the wealthiest americans, folks like me. >> read his lips, no deal without a tax increase on the richest in this country. and get this, president obama is winning this argument. remember the ant
the president who exploded our deficit. he insisted the solution to our problems were more tax cuts. president clinton handed him a $236 billion surplus. a surplus. and left office with a $1.2 trillion deficit. but he just had to keep those tax cuts coming, but something remarkable may be happening in our politics. we're on the verge of something big. after decades of silliness, this lock-step republican fantasy that has hurt our country, president obama is close to breaking the gop tax unity....
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and it is, over the long-term, projected to be the biggest contributor to deficits down the road. which mean people in the country, voters everywhere, love medicare and do not want it to be cut. and wonks in washington, d.c. spend their time trying to figure out how to cut medicare. both democrat and republican. and with this very thorny contradiction in mind, politicians and think tank analysts and the like have developed a whole secondary-coated language to talk about medicare. so premium support instead ofç privatizing medicare, and structural medicare reform instead of raising the eligibility age. now, remember the context for all this. this is important. remember that phrase we first started hearing at the start of the health reform debate, which may be apocryphal, "keep government hands off my medicare." the big tea party uprising was in large part a reaction to the idea, quote/unquote, of socialized medicine. it was the affordable care act, and the government, quote, takeover of health care, that fanned the flames of the post-obama tea party protest. but, of course, most
and it is, over the long-term, projected to be the biggest contributor to deficits down the road. which mean people in the country, voters everywhere, love medicare and do not want it to be cut. and wonks in washington, d.c. spend their time trying to figure out how to cut medicare. both democrat and republican. and with this very thorny contradiction in mind, politicians and think tank analysts and the like have developed a whole secondary-coated language to talk about medicare. so premium...
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we need more problem solvers that are willing to come together like the deficit and job crisis that we continue to want to tackle. so i think you do see him saying, hey, i have this idea. we're going to take it by the storm. it didn't work. the president is still standing and moving forward. and i think there's some in his party who are eager to try to get a balanced approach and prevent us from going off this cliff which would be a very serious thing and we're right up against it. >> don't they have, joe, a real civil war going on in the republican party when you have on one hand sarah palin open fending the tea party's role saying on facebook, for all this new talk about how the gop needs a populous movement, it would do them good to remember they already have them. it's called a tea party movement and it won for them the majority they now enjoy in the house. this is palin. but on the other side, the "new york times" says today that boehner has consolidated his grip on republicans in the house. the times says many house republicans appear to view mr. boehner with the same sort of res
we need more problem solvers that are willing to come together like the deficit and job crisis that we continue to want to tackle. so i think you do see him saying, hey, i have this idea. we're going to take it by the storm. it didn't work. the president is still standing and moving forward. and i think there's some in his party who are eager to try to get a balanced approach and prevent us from going off this cliff which would be a very serious thing and we're right up against it. >>...
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we need to do something about the deficit. going over the fiscal cliff is the best thing we're going to get out of washington in terms of serious production to the deficit. we will suffer, but we got ourselves into this. we're not going to get out without some pain. i think we are going to go over the cliff. >> let me quickly say i don't favor going over the cliff, but howe regard is right. if you're worried about the deficit, the easiest way is to go over the cliff. you have increases right away. >> yeah. >> can i ask you, though, how can you guarantee e that all the extra tax hikes and provisions actually go towards paying the national debt and not more spending and more programs? >> you can't guarantee that but you have a conservative republican congress. they are not going to vote for any spending increase. why not take advantage of that and make the initial cuts and let them go into a stalemate for awhile. that's a pretty big amount. my sges that provides the certainty. we go back to the clinton tax rates. and we make sig
we need to do something about the deficit. going over the fiscal cliff is the best thing we're going to get out of washington in terms of serious production to the deficit. we will suffer, but we got ourselves into this. we're not going to get out without some pain. i think we are going to go over the cliff. >> let me quickly say i don't favor going over the cliff, but howe regard is right. if you're worried about the deficit, the easiest way is to go over the cliff. you have increases...
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it makes the deficit better. it would go a long way toward curing the deficit, but the deficit isn't the immediate problem for most people, the weak economy is. >> i agree. >> and if we dive off the fiscal cliff, the economy could get much weaker. that's -- >> by the way -- >> -- millions of americans. it's a problem for barack obama. >> just to back you up, i really think the great thing is the economy is just starting to lift up a. the unemployment rate is really starting to come down. we're getting good job production. thank you so much, ladies, for coming on tonight. thanks for the sharp thinking we got tonight. >>> up next, if you can't win by the rules, change then. that's what republicans are trying to do in pennsylvania. they don't like the lerer toal college because it didn't work for them. come back for the place for politics. derate alzheimer's, you'll also care about our new offer. you get access to nurses who can help with your questions. and your loved one can get exelon patch free for 30 days. if t
it makes the deficit better. it would go a long way toward curing the deficit, but the deficit isn't the immediate problem for most people, the weak economy is. >> i agree. >> and if we dive off the fiscal cliff, the economy could get much weaker. that's -- >> by the way -- >> -- millions of americans. it's a problem for barack obama. >> just to back you up, i really think the great thing is the economy is just starting to lift up a. the unemployment rate is really...
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our long-term goal is to get our long-term deficit under control in a way that is balanced and is fair and that would be good for businesses, for our economy, for future generations. and i believe both parties can and will work together in the coming weeks to get that done. we know how that gets done. we're going to have to raise a little more revenue, we've got to cut out spending we don't need, building on the trillion dollars of spending cuts we've already made, and if we combine those two things, we can create a path where america's paying its bills while still being able to make investments in the things we need to grow like education and infrastructure. we know how to do that. but, you know, in washington, nothing is easy so there's going to be some prolonged negotiations. and all of us will have to get out of our comfort zones to make that happen. i'm willing to do that. i'm hoping enough members of congress in both parties are willing to do that as well. we can solve these problems. but where the clock is really ticking right now, is on middle-class taxes. at the end of the yea
our long-term goal is to get our long-term deficit under control in a way that is balanced and is fair and that would be good for businesses, for our economy, for future generations. and i believe both parties can and will work together in the coming weeks to get that done. we know how that gets done. we're going to have to raise a little more revenue, we've got to cut out spending we don't need, building on the trillion dollars of spending cuts we've already made, and if we combine those two...
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does it reduce the deficit? >> joining me now is senator sherrod brown. senator, good to have you with us tonight. your comments on what nancy pelosi has to say about revenue. >> she's right. you look at a little history in the 1990s. the upper one or 2 or 5% were paying more in taxes. just a little bit more. we had 21 million private sector job creation, net job creation. when george bush cut taxes on the wealthy in 2001 and 2003, we've had no real job growth and no wage growth during this past decade. we're finally now after ten straight years of manufacturing job decline hitting places like toledo and cleveland and cincinnati particularly hard, we're seeing now in the last two years after the auto rescue, after we're doing some of the right things here, we're seeing job growth. i agree with what nancy pelosi said. history improves itself. >> so based on history, this is about math and not ideology. the sense i get on the hill today, if you don't get the rate increase, you can forget everything else. >> we have seen in this country a decline in infrastr
does it reduce the deficit? >> joining me now is senator sherrod brown. senator, good to have you with us tonight. your comments on what nancy pelosi has to say about revenue. >> she's right. you look at a little history in the 1990s. the upper one or 2 or 5% were paying more in taxes. just a little bit more. we had 21 million private sector job creation, net job creation. when george bush cut taxes on the wealthy in 2001 and 2003, we've had no real job growth and no wage growth...
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bush inherited a surplus and left with a massive deficit. didn't monitor the financial system and so on. the most important point is david's right about, which is there's no such thing as a presidential referendum election. i've covered ten of these and they've all been choices. why? because these two candidates live in everybody's living rooms. people make a judgment about their character -- >> reagan was partially positive, just anti -- >> oh that became a choice election after reagan appeared in that one debate against carter and people said, hey, he isn't so bad. i have a choice. >> one of the other players, besides the two candidates was bill clinton, the former president, don't think anybody made a better case of making the case for obama than bill clinton. at the convention a critical moment when he explained the arithmetic of what obama inherited. >> in tampa the republican argument against the president's re-election was pretty simple, pretty snappy. it went something like this. we left him a total mess. he hadn't cleaned it up fast
bush inherited a surplus and left with a massive deficit. didn't monitor the financial system and so on. the most important point is david's right about, which is there's no such thing as a presidential referendum election. i've covered ten of these and they've all been choices. why? because these two candidates live in everybody's living rooms. people make a judgment about their character -- >> reagan was partially positive, just anti -- >> oh that became a choice election after...
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, there is brand-new polling out today on how americans feel about the idea of congress using these deficit negotiations to make cuts to medicare. 79% of americans say they do not want congress to touch medicare in these deficit negotiations. 79%. if you want to get specific about john boehner's proposal, what he wants to do to medicare is to raise the eligibility age from 65 to 67. and as it turns out, there is also recent polling on that specific proposal. and it is also super unpopular. look at this. almost 70% of americans say they oppose raising the eligibility age for medicare. that number is slightly higher among republicans than it is for the general population. more republicans oppose john boehner's plan than the already extremely high margin of the general public that opposes john boehner's plan. now, if you're following the news very closely in this slow-motion, groundhog day-esque political negotiation, maybe yoç already knew that john boehner wants to raise the medicare eligibility age. but if you just sort of glanced at john boehner's actual letter to the president with his p
, there is brand-new polling out today on how americans feel about the idea of congress using these deficit negotiations to make cuts to medicare. 79% of americans say they do not want congress to touch medicare in these deficit negotiations. 79%. if you want to get specific about john boehner's proposal, what he wants to do to medicare is to raise the eligibility age from 65 to 67. and as it turns out, there is also recent polling on that specific proposal. and it is also super unpopular. look...
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going to require what i talked about during the campaign, which is a balanced, responsible approach to deficit reduction and unfortunately the speaker's proposal right now is still out of balance. >> nbc's luke russert begins the coverage live on capitol hill. luke, first read this morning put a rather positive spin on duelling deals arguing there's a silver lining if you split the difference. unpack that for us. >> reporter: s.e., you saw that the republicans' offer was immediately dismissed by the white house. president obama, his team of communications advisers saying it's more of the same and won't work. the speaker was not offering to raise taxes on those making 250 or above. that's a big sticking point. if you look at both plans and split the difference and run the math, if you take the 800 billion in revenue that speaker boehner has offered, the 1.6 trillion the white house wants, you split the difference 1.2. if you split the difference on the cuts, you get to 450, 500 billion. numbers that folks on both sides think is feasible in the realm of a large deal. i spoke to a senior republic
going to require what i talked about during the campaign, which is a balanced, responsible approach to deficit reduction and unfortunately the speaker's proposal right now is still out of balance. >> nbc's luke russert begins the coverage live on capitol hill. luke, first read this morning put a rather positive spin on duelling deals arguing there's a silver lining if you split the difference. unpack that for us. >> reporter: s.e., you saw that the republicans' offer was immediately...
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the fact is that social security doesn't add one penny to the deficit or the debt. let's get the facts straight on this. we've been looking at these entitlements, scrutinizing them. we've had bipartisan changes to social security to make it sustainable. we can do that again. don't blame social security and medicare for our problems. i would say a major part of the problem is health care expenses, and i think the affordable health care bill attacked that issue particularly. if we don't lower health care costs, we are not going to get the budget in balance regardless of what we do. >> we have below you daishg you can't see it. a new poll was taken. a majority didn't want to see cuts in medicaid and didn't want the eligibility age increase for medicare. >> you're absolutely right. you put more burden on the states. right now the states are struggling to keep their head above water as it is. if you put that burden on the states, then they are going to move accordingly to the towns and their taxpayers in that particular state. in my state of new jersey, we pay an exorbit
the fact is that social security doesn't add one penny to the deficit or the debt. let's get the facts straight on this. we've been looking at these entitlements, scrutinizing them. we've had bipartisan changes to social security to make it sustainable. we can do that again. don't blame social security and medicare for our problems. i would say a major part of the problem is health care expenses, and i think the affordable health care bill attacked that issue particularly. if we don't lower...
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this is an administration that has 1 trillion plus deficits for each four years. >> one part of that that republicans have talked about, that 2%, and whether you're going to protect tax break force them. steve latourette said some people who call me, they're more worried about the fiscal cliff than about rates going up a couple of points. thomas rooney in your party, if there is truly entitlement reforms that's going to preserve social security and medicare for generations to come, it's going to be very difficult for me to oppose higher rates for the rich. what about that? >> and to mr. rooney's point, if in fact there were fundamental, significant reform of medicare, medicaid and social security so that we in fact save and strengthen and secure those programs, just like we did in our budget,those were included in the president's proposal, then that's something that we would talk about and very seriously consider because there's where we got to get. we got to get real solutions. the problem with the president's proposal is it's not a real solution, it's all politics. >> congressman t
this is an administration that has 1 trillion plus deficits for each four years. >> one part of that that republicans have talked about, that 2%, and whether you're going to protect tax break force them. steve latourette said some people who call me, they're more worried about the fiscal cliff than about rates going up a couple of points. thomas rooney in your party, if there is truly entitlement reforms that's going to preserve social security and medicare for generations to come, it's...
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a serious down payment of the deficit. the wall street people who are wringing their hands about this are really full of it. because what they're going to see is a big drop on wall street while the hype comes and then it's going to come roaring back because finally somebody has done something serious about the deficit. so i think the fiscal curb as you call it is actually the best deal that progressive democrats are going to get and i think it's the best deal in the long run, not the short run. but the long run to the american people. >> i think if we did go off, as i kind of expect we will, that congress, though, will not accept your view of look at the long-term benefits of most of this package. yes, there's some things we don't like in it, but most of the package is beneficial. and they will take some kind of action. they would immediately go into action and try to do something about the top -- about the other tax brackets below the top, and then that's when the discussion on spending cuts would really get engaged. >> i
a serious down payment of the deficit. the wall street people who are wringing their hands about this are really full of it. because what they're going to see is a big drop on wall street while the hype comes and then it's going to come roaring back because finally somebody has done something serious about the deficit. so i think the fiscal curb as you call it is actually the best deal that progressive democrats are going to get and i think it's the best deal in the long run, not the short run....
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so far what we've seen from republicans in the house does not work in terms of reducing the deficit. >> congresswoman, we are watching the president on our screen at the business roundtable. there was an issue with the poll microphone for the president's address so they've handed him a different microphone, the leaders inside this room can hear exactly what the president is saying but his audio is too low for us to be able to share it with everybody. we're still working on that. when we see and hear about the fact this two-step plan getting something done for the middle class by the end of the year, does this set up the scenario we live in a perpetual state of fiscal cliff loopness, this is the same old dog and pony show every six months to a year fighting over the same things and not big, bold leadership? >> i hope not, certainly if it's not left up to president obama and congressional democrats. president obama proposed $4 trillion in deficit reduction, he has a balanced approach to take care of the middle class and that they have the certainty that they need that we make spending
so far what we've seen from republicans in the house does not work in terms of reducing the deficit. >> congresswoman, we are watching the president on our screen at the business roundtable. there was an issue with the poll microphone for the president's address so they've handed him a different microphone, the leaders inside this room can hear exactly what the president is saying but his audio is too low for us to be able to share it with everybody. we're still working on that. when we...
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a lot and create the ability to deal with our deficit more reasonably and still provide for people in a more reasonable way. >> so, jared, another area of concern is republicans are now threatening to use the debt ceiling again to basically take the country hostage again. yesterday i compared the debt ceiling -- >> when you talk about the debt ceiling you get very loud. >> i get very emotional. i don't know about that. i do get very emotional. i compared it it to physicianle c fiscal syphilis yesterday. >> i heard your rant. i linked to it on my blog. >> thank you. last time they took the country hostage, it was very damaging, i think, for confidence in our political system, the u.s. credit rating was actually downgraded. it didn't seem to have that much of an impact on the economy. what can we expect if republicans do decide to use that same tactic again? >> oh, i think we can expect a real economic chaos. the reason why things worked out okay last night was because we actually increased the debt ceiling at the end of the day. the president has been very clear that he's not going to
a lot and create the ability to deal with our deficit more reasonably and still provide for people in a more reasonable way. >> so, jared, another area of concern is republicans are now threatening to use the debt ceiling again to basically take the country hostage again. yesterday i compared the debt ceiling -- >> when you talk about the debt ceiling you get very loud. >> i get very emotional. i don't know about that. i do get very emotional. i compared it it to physicianle c...
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it isn't even dealing with the deficit problem that needs to be dealt with. as long as they are engaging, something is going to move here. >> molly, the priorities in these plans couldn't be more different with republicans getting almost everything through cuts. how could the white house begin to accept this at any level. are we headed for the cliff? >> the white house doesn't seem to be accepting it. the reaction from the other side seems to be, okay, this is a good start, but let's see something real. you can see, i think, the box that republicans have painted themselves into. i think this offer is sort of a recognition of how little leverage they have. they were being hurt by this perception that they weren't offering specifics and coming to the table. they offered something. it's going to make some conservatives scream with the tax hikes in it, but it's also not seeming to get any traction with democrats who are saying it's not specific enough and doesn't go far enough because it doesn't raise those rates. >> what about the report from abc news? what abou
it isn't even dealing with the deficit problem that needs to be dealt with. as long as they are engaging, something is going to move here. >> molly, the priorities in these plans couldn't be more different with republicans getting almost everything through cuts. how could the white house begin to accept this at any level. are we headed for the cliff? >> the white house doesn't seem to be accepting it. the reaction from the other side seems to be, okay, this is a good start, but...
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the president's message >>> if we get this part of it right, a lot of the other issues surrounding deficit reduction are going to be a whole lot easier. if we get this wrong, the economy is going to go south. we don't have a lot of time here. we have a few weeks to get this thing done. we could get it done tomorrow. optimistically, i don't think we are going to get it done tomorrow. >> the white house is using all social media resources to get the message out and put pressure on the republicans. >> today, i'm asking congress to listen to the people who sent us here to serve. i'm asking americans all across the country to make your voice heard. tell members of congress what a $2,000 tax hike would mean to you. call your members of congress, write them an e-mail, post it on their facebook walls. you can tweet it using the hash tag my 2 k, not y2 k. >> the president was laughing about you the strategy, seriously effective. the my2k was one of the top trends on twitter all day long. republicans aren't too happy. they are getting outflanked. >> if the president wants to reach an agreement, he n
the president's message >>> if we get this part of it right, a lot of the other issues surrounding deficit reduction are going to be a whole lot easier. if we get this wrong, the economy is going to go south. we don't have a lot of time here. we have a few weeks to get this thing done. we could get it done tomorrow. optimistically, i don't think we are going to get it done tomorrow. >> the white house is using all social media resources to get the message out and put pressure on...
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there is an interesting coalition, if you will, of very conservative deficit hawks and very liberal deficit hawks, if you will, who might come together and say, you know what, let the country go off the cliff. lack at those five-year projections. isn't this about short term versus long term? what do you say and what do you think your members would say? >> the best thing is to do something our spending problem and barring anything else, doing the automatic cuts that congress promised last year when they raised the debt ceiling would be better than doing nothing. it's separate from the ougautomc tax increase that happens on january 1. our preferred strategy here would be to accept the sequester now knowing that congress is not going to do something more rational. they're not going to take on more fundamental spending reforms and push off increasing taxes. and let's have a ration conversation about fundamental tax reform in the first six months of next year. nothing congress does in this panic is going to be rational public policy regardless of ideology. >> isn't it fair to say no matter what,
there is an interesting coalition, if you will, of very conservative deficit hawks and very liberal deficit hawks, if you will, who might come together and say, you know what, let the country go off the cliff. lack at those five-year projections. isn't this about short term versus long term? what do you say and what do you think your members would say? >> the best thing is to do something our spending problem and barring anything else, doing the automatic cuts that congress promised last...
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the deficit, nobody wants there to be a deficit, but that's not the pressing need we've got as a nation. growing the economy, frankly, is the only way we have gotten rid of red ink in the past. when americans are better off, they pay more in taxes. the government can pay for the usual things and pay down the debt. president clinton, the surplus, he got that partly from raising revenue. raising taxes. but also he did it in a way that grew the economy and the nation prospered and the debt became no big deal and then the debt was gone and the debt clocks that were supposed to be scary got shut off. that was because of prioritizing economic growth and being willing to raise revenues. look when we started growing again after the recession. it was not long after the stimulus kicked in. the government spent money and the economy grew. that's how it works. that's why it used to be a beltway consensus when the economy needed to e grow, you needed economic stimulus in terms of your fiscal policy. now the discussion about how we need to make sure we contract the economy and cause as much pain as p
the deficit, nobody wants there to be a deficit, but that's not the pressing need we've got as a nation. growing the economy, frankly, is the only way we have gotten rid of red ink in the past. when americans are better off, they pay more in taxes. the government can pay for the usual things and pay down the debt. president clinton, the surplus, he got that partly from raising revenue. raising taxes. but also he did it in a way that grew the economy and the nation prospered and the debt became...
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security has nothing to do with the deficit. social security is totally funded by the payroll tax levied on employer and employee. if you reduce the outgo of social security, that money would not go into the general fund to reduce the deficit. it would go into the social security trust fund. so social security has nothing to do with balancing a budget or erasing or lowering the deficit. >> social security has nothing to do with the deficit. it's not president obama saying that. it's president reagan, their hero. and he also said this. >> we're going to close the unproductive tax loopholes that allowed the truly wealthy to avoid pay their fair share. in theory, some of those loopholes were understandable but in practice they sometimes made it possible for millionaires to pay nothing while a bus driver was paying 10% of their salary. that's crazy. do you think the millionaire ought to pay more in taxes or less? >> a millionaire should pay less in taxes than a bus driver. that's what this whole debate in washington right now is all
security has nothing to do with the deficit. social security is totally funded by the payroll tax levied on employer and employee. if you reduce the outgo of social security, that money would not go into the general fund to reduce the deficit. it would go into the social security trust fund. so social security has nothing to do with balancing a budget or erasing or lowering the deficit. >> social security has nothing to do with the deficit. it's not president obama saying that. it's...
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shy add, chris, that another really important part of this conversation in addition to long term deficit reduction is making sure that we get sustained economic recovery. we saw some good numbers today, but we want to make sure that we sustain that recovery. and extending middle class text cuts is part of it, but so is investing in our infrastructure, so are other elements of the president's jobs plan that should be part of this overall agreement. >> we have seen several liberal democrats to say that it is better to go off that cliff than to get a bad deal. and i'm wondering if you agree because it seems like the ceos who came out of the meeting with the president yesterday were most worried or at least seriously worried about the effect of not getting a deal on time and the effect that will have on the economy. >> we absolutely want to avoid going over the fiscal cliff because it would be a big drag on the economy. >> but are you willing to do that? >> what we're willing to do is come up with a package that both accelerates economic recovery, but also begins to reduce the long term defi
shy add, chris, that another really important part of this conversation in addition to long term deficit reduction is making sure that we get sustained economic recovery. we saw some good numbers today, but we want to make sure that we sustain that recovery. and extending middle class text cuts is part of it, but so is investing in our infrastructure, so are other elements of the president's jobs plan that should be part of this overall agreement. >> we have seen several liberal democrats...
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we shouldn't have deficit reduction right now. we should focus on jobs and employment and continued stimulus for the economy, which i was really happy about the president at least had some of that in his plan. then you ask yourself, okay, what could you do in terms of reducing the deficit that would be the least damaging, and what economists say and what makes common sense is people at the top end of the income scale, who can afford to pay a little more, that's the place where we can raise the rates now and not have a major economic impact. so i take the governor's point, and i agree with it. we probably are going to -- if we're going to continue to make the promises and keep the promises that i think are so important and most progressives do, we probably need to raise taxes on a lot of people. it's a question of timing of when to make those choices. >> the rush limbaugh showed us today how difficult it is for john boehner and eric cantor to make the moves they've already made. let's listen to what rush said. >> what we got today
we shouldn't have deficit reduction right now. we should focus on jobs and employment and continued stimulus for the economy, which i was really happy about the president at least had some of that in his plan. then you ask yourself, okay, what could you do in terms of reducing the deficit that would be the least damaging, and what economists say and what makes common sense is people at the top end of the income scale, who can afford to pay a little more, that's the place where we can raise the...
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we want to stop the spending problem so we can then go about trying to manage down the debt and deficit. >> nbc's first read made this point. the white house is sending the message that if republicans want entitlement reform, they're the ones who will have to propose it. how much of this is about getting the gop to do some of the dirty work on a sticky issue for democrats? >> i think that is a very big part of it. look, nobody -- we just went through a campaign in which medicare, the ryan budget, and changes to medicare and cuts out of medicare were such a huge issue, both sides claiming that they wanted to protect seniors. but, look, i think the democrats believe that they have an opportunity, they have leverage on the tax issue, that they don't want to talk about these entitlement changes until the republicans agree to increase the tax rate on the top 2%. because after all, there was a bill that passed out of the senate and they believe that at the end of the day, if that bill is still on the plate, on the republicans' plate in the house, they'll have to pass it staring down the fisca
we want to stop the spending problem so we can then go about trying to manage down the debt and deficit. >> nbc's first read made this point. the white house is sending the message that if republicans want entitlement reform, they're the ones who will have to propose it. how much of this is about getting the gop to do some of the dirty work on a sticky issue for democrats? >> i think that is a very big part of it. look, nobody -- we just went through a campaign in which medicare,...
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, the amount of the deficit itself. as governors we try to find common ground issues that we can bring to the president to speaker boehner, to leader reid to talk about and say, we want to grow our economy. we want to create jobs. we understand these are tough decisions that have to be made. we understand there whim be cuts on the federal side. the states will have a shared responsibility with those cuts. we have some specific things that we have suggested to the president. we'll suggest later on today to congress to give them some ideas of ways we think governors can help and also we think it's important that the governors have a seat at the table because ultimately it's the states that will also feel the effect of what happens in washington, d.c. >> you made that point, governor. i'm curious about the line in the sand for the president, and i'm sure he expressed his thoughts on the tax rate for those who make over $250,000. that revenue is needed. without, i guess, endorsing one plan over the other, where do you stand
, the amount of the deficit itself. as governors we try to find common ground issues that we can bring to the president to speaker boehner, to leader reid to talk about and say, we want to grow our economy. we want to create jobs. we understand these are tough decisions that have to be made. we understand there whim be cuts on the federal side. the states will have a shared responsibility with those cuts. we have some specific things that we have suggested to the president. we'll suggest later...
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we won't be able to achieve a significant balanced approach to the deficit. it does have some revenue in it, even though it's not from tax increases. so what does this opening offer say about where we are in these negotiations? >> well, it seems very difficult to imagine that we're going to be getting to a deal that will handle everything that needs to be addressed before the end of the year. i think the first main thing that needs to be addressed is the question of the tax cuts expiring. and for the obama administration, the question is, is it in their interest to trade tax cuts for the wealthy? increase for the wealthy for raising the age for eligibility for medicare, for example. i'm not sure that that's a trade that they are eager to make immediately. >> let me show you the side by side comparison. the president wants $1.6 trillion in revenue and republicans want to cap the same deductions for the rich but republicans want to change the age to 67 and change the way they calculate social security payments. i wonder, though, when we look at these numbers, a
we won't be able to achieve a significant balanced approach to the deficit. it does have some revenue in it, even though it's not from tax increases. so what does this opening offer say about where we are in these negotiations? >> well, it seems very difficult to imagine that we're going to be getting to a deal that will handle everything that needs to be addressed before the end of the year. i think the first main thing that needs to be addressed is the question of the tax cuts expiring....
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so security trust fund doesn't have anything to do with the debt and deficit. but the idea that we're going to simply kick the can on that and have across the board social security cuts, you know, 15 years from now because we didn't step up responsibly i think does a great disservice to those who expected to have those benefits when they reach retirement age. >> senator mark warner, thank you for your time today. >> thank you, richard. >>> let's bring in our political power panel, melinda, democratic strategist morris reed. let's start with you hogan. i want to start with this. senator harry reid used an interesting analogy on the floor to describe the current state of the republican party. listen to this first. >> he's got a problem. he has three quarter backs, sanchez, he's got tim tebow, a guy by the name of mcilroy. he can't describe who is going to be the quarterback. that's the same problem that the republicans are having. romney is there but he's in the background. who is the quarterback, mr. president. >> hogan, what do you think? who's the quarterback?
so security trust fund doesn't have anything to do with the debt and deficit. but the idea that we're going to simply kick the can on that and have across the board social security cuts, you know, 15 years from now because we didn't step up responsibly i think does a great disservice to those who expected to have those benefits when they reach retirement age. >> senator mark warner, thank you for your time today. >> thank you, richard. >>> let's bring in our political power...
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i'm saying at some point, talking about the attention deficit disorder that this nation suffers from in terms of politics, the poor have to have a spokesperson to articulate their viewpoints, a marion wright etleman, someone who speaks about the devastation the poor endured. there's a value in speaking it into existence so on shows like this or sunday morning programs the poor have a seat at the table. >> think of the man with the golden throat a spokesperson on this hour, which i applaud you. >> where is john edwards? >> john edwards. >> getting a haircut. >> if there was an oil painting of john edwards -- the haircut's not the first thing they'd mention. nbc's -- >> john edwards has an oil painting of himself in his house, i bet money on that. >> she didn't say oily. >> the seasonally elegant luke russert, thank you for joining us. and cnbc's john harwood, thank you. >>> fast-food works are joining thousands of low-wage earners in a day of solidarity. our super sized income problem in america ahead on "now." >>> time for the "your business" entrepreneur of the week. lauren wanted t
i'm saying at some point, talking about the attention deficit disorder that this nation suffers from in terms of politics, the poor have to have a spokesperson to articulate their viewpoints, a marion wright etleman, someone who speaks about the devastation the poor endured. there's a value in speaking it into existence so on shows like this or sunday morning programs the poor have a seat at the table. >> think of the man with the golden throat a spokesperson on this hour, which i applaud...
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it's actually too much deficit reduck sln too quickly in the wrong parts of the budget. you want a more thoughtful, thought out plan. on your point about the debt ceiling, we what we need is to have certainty, know where we're headed. not have multiple showdowns but the debt ceiling is only going to be increased significantly if it goes hand in hand with a big enough deal which has real changes in the budget. so the best thing we could do is put in place a balanced plan deals with all parts of the budget and really provides the kind of sense of security that households, small businesses, everybody needs to know so we can start planning for the economy and hopefully getting things growing back again. one of the things you see is that when your debt levels are as high as they are, in this country right now, that's a tamp on economic growth and can harm growth. that's the point we're at. we know that part of a growth strategy will have to be getting control of these deficits and debt and fix the debt as basically saying, we have to work this out and do it in a bipartisan wa
it's actually too much deficit reduck sln too quickly in the wrong parts of the budget. you want a more thoughtful, thought out plan. on your point about the debt ceiling, we what we need is to have certainty, know where we're headed. not have multiple showdowns but the debt ceiling is only going to be increased significantly if it goes hand in hand with a big enough deal which has real changes in the budget. so the best thing we could do is put in place a balanced plan deals with all parts of...
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brings our long-term deficits down. tough spending savings is part of that, and invest in things that matter to the american economy, like infrastructure, and getting americans back to work. we think we can do that. we have a good chance, and it's very important. and i think we'll get there, david. >> do you think we'll get a deal by the end of the year? >> i do. because the only thing standing in the way of that is a refusal by republicans to accept that rates have to go up on the wealthiest americans. and i don't really see them doing that. >> the idea that they have signalled something significant for them, which is -- >> what is that? >> putting revenue on the table. >> it's welcome that they are recognizing that revenues are going to have to go up. but they haven't told us anything about how far rates should go up, how far revenues should go up, who should pay higher taxes. >> republicans have said that no republicans will vote for a tax rate increase. do you think they are just bluffing? >> i can't tell you what t
brings our long-term deficits down. tough spending savings is part of that, and invest in things that matter to the american economy, like infrastructure, and getting americans back to work. we think we can do that. we have a good chance, and it's very important. and i think we'll get there, david. >> do you think we'll get a deal by the end of the year? >> i do. because the only thing standing in the way of that is a refusal by republicans to accept that rates have to go up on the...